The Year of the Theatrical Femme

by Amber Wilkinson

Gender is performative. Whether you’re cis, trans, straight, or queer. Whether we are aware of it, we are performing gender. So what would it mean to lean into the performance of gender, to find freedom in the dramatics of it? 

The last couple years have seen an explosion of queer, particularly sapphic representation. Think that Miley and Fletcher moment. Think Renee Rapp and Towa Bird. We now have an openly queer Regina George. We have a lesbian bodybuilder movie with Kristen Stewart.

2023 especially was the year of the sapphic. It saw both the release of Poor Things and The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, the debut album of Chappell Roan. What do these two things have in common? The theatrical through a sapphic gaze. As a colourful queer, I adored the worlds of silks, bright fabrics, and independent queer women. This felt like freedom. And I think it is what we need more of.

A note on language: I use sapphic in this article as a more inclusive term than lesbian or bisexual. Not sure what it is? According to Yasmine Hamou for Them, ‘Sapphic is an umbrella term that includes lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual trans femmes, mascs, nonbinary folks, and cis women.’

Poor Things

Poor Things is a 2023 feature film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and produced by Emma Stone. When people criticise the film for being created for a man, they fail to recognise Emma Stones creative input, not just as the central role but as producer as well. Stone plays Bella Baxter, a Frankenstein-like creation of a baby’s brain in the body of an adult woman. It’s strange, but bare with me here.

There’s no way I can talk about this without talking about some of the major criticisms, e.g. abuse and exploitation. In my opinion, Poor Things IS a thing about exploitation, showing all the ways the men in Bella’s life attempt to exploit and contain her, and she does not let them. Central to this film is not only exploitation, but more so exploration.  So indicative of this is Bella’s comments on travelling the world; ‘I have adventured it and found nothing but sugar and violence. It is most charming’. Free of the binds of societal norms, Bella is free to explore the world of custard tarts and sex. She is hungry to sink her teeth into everything, a hunger so many queer women have and do not always feel free to follow.

And Bella is queer. While living in a brothel as a sex worker in Paris, she meets Toinette, arguably the most sexy, gentle, and open relationship Bella has. In the end, she moves back home to Glasgow and lives with her lover. She becomes a doctor. Bella forges a path for herself and gets all she wants.

She does all this in style due to the amazing costumes designed by Holly Waddington. Inspired by 19th Century Victoriana, Waddington created a gorgeous array of colourful fabrics and bold silhouettes. Speaking to Polyester, Waddington told them ‘there’s an inherent sense of freedom and liberation in the costumes. That was important because Bella is unashamed. She’s a very free person and liberated.’. The theatrical costumery of Bella reflects her journey of liberation. In these clothes she is free to explore, dance, frolic, fuck. She is unashamed of herself and sexuality.

Chappell Roan

Another woman unashamed of her sexuality is Chappell Roan, every sapphic’s current celebrity crush. Her embrace of catchy gay pop (hey Jojo Siwa) and campy drag-inspired appearance is alluring to many queer women and enby folks. Like Bella’s character, Chappell exists so far away from the male gaze, situated firmly in the world of small town girls, gays, and theys.

Songs like ‘Pink Pony Club’ and ‘Naked in Manhattan’ chronicle how this Midwest Princess ultimately leaves home - like Bella -  seduced by the city. In ‘Naked In Manhattan’ she details one of her first sexual experiences with a girl in New York. Then in ‘Pink Pony Club’, she dreams of LA, a ‘special place/ Where boys and girls can all be queens every single day’. Like Poor Things, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is about exploration and play. The ruffly sleeves of Bella are replaced with rhinestones and latex. What I love about Chappell’s music and performance is this campiness; her silly, tongue-in-cheek costumes that scream of fun and liberation. 

It is also worth noting that Chappell uses this campiness not only to be campy and fun, but to explore topics that affect queers. In ‘Good Luck Babe’, Chappell examines compulsory heteronormativity, how queer woman are in denial of their feelings towards other women because they are still bound to sexual norms. Within these feelings, Chappell has created a space of catharsis and dance. Her theatrical presentation eases these discussions.

What we are seeing through  Chappell and Bella is the year of the theatrical femme. What is that you ask? The theatrical femme is a sapphic presenting their gender and sexuality in a  theatrical way e.g. through costume. This is a resistance against cis heteronormativity by making oneself loud and whimsical. Femme theatricality does not pander to patriarchal notions of beauty. Central to femme theatricality is reinvention; how explorations in our costume and presentation can lead to explorations in our gender and sexualities. Next time I’m at the local queer club, I want to be the hottest clown in the joint and I can’t wait.